Advocacy group Sikh Coalition has appealed to every Sikh-American to exercise extra vigilance and caution during this period of heightened vulnerability.

A Sikh civil rights group has appealed to members of the Sikh-American community in the United States to be extra vigilant in the wake of a possible hate crime in Kansas City that left one Indian engineer dead and another injured.

The Sikh Coalition said its prayers go out to the family of 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed when 51-year-old Olathe resident Adam Purinton shot him at a bar in the city on Wednesday.

WHAT THE SIKH GROUP SAID

The advocacy group urged “every Sikh-American to exercise extra vigilance and caution during this period of heightened vulnerability.”

It urged members of the community to call up law enforcement agencies immediately if they had been a victim of hate violence or had received threats of violence.

“You just can’t help but your heart goes out to them, and it’s such a sad story for the community but I just wanted to support and of course honour the lives of everybody involved”, nearby business owner Amber McCracken said in a report in KSHB Kansas City.

The shooting has shaken the tight-knit Indian community in Olathe, according to Shabina Kavimandan, who was among those laying flowers at the site.